COMMENT | When French magazine Charlie Hebdo published cartoons mocking and insulting Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), its director of publication - Stephane Charbonnier - proudly claimed his staff was “not really fueling the fire” but rather using its freedom of expression “to comment (on) the news in a satirical way.”

Such a comment reflects this fact: France is seemingly embracing an absolute freedom of expression. But, is that so?

In short, ridiculing and mocking our beloved Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) has invariably been viewed by some French people as part of freedom of speech and expression.

In other words, some French people have been expanding the zone of democratic rights of its citizens to include the right to insult even the Prophet/a religious belief.

Being a notion of “liberty, equality, fraternity” (Liberté, egalité, fraternité) - which are seen as the safe-house of French identity - everybody expects French people to be truly democratic both in their words and actions.

Unfortunately, to everybody's astonishment, France seems to...